Mediaage NG News – ABUJA, Nigeria
Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised over an Easter message that was criticised as offensive and disrespectful by some Christians in the country.
The tax agency on Sunday shared a post on X (formerly twitter) saying “Jesus paid your debts, not your taxes”, according to local media reports.
The post was later deleted after it was denounced by a number of Christian organisations, including the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) which demanded that the FIRS apologise.
CAN, an umbrella group for Christians said the message was “offensive and derogatory to the Christian faith”.
The association’s National Director Abimbola Ayuba also complained that the post continued a pattern of “provocative messages around religious holidays”.
In the apology issued on Tuesday, FIRS spokesperson, Dare Adekanmbi said the post was not intended to detract from the significance of Easter.
“The message was our way of uniquely engaging taxpayers and to remind them of the need to prioritise payment of their taxes as a civic obligation,” he added.
Christianity is one of Nigeria’s main religions and is practiced by nearly half of the country.